


College is hyped up

by FoxtrotFever



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Drinking, Gay Keith (Voltron), Hunk is perfect as usual, Lance is a creeper, M/M, Masturbation, Minor Allura/Shiro (Voltron), Mutual Pining, Pidge is a memester, Pining, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Roommates, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), drunk lance is the best lance, keith is super gay, not much, some smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-24
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-19 13:43:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11898960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FoxtrotFever/pseuds/FoxtrotFever
Summary: When applying for college, Lance knew what he was getting himself into in terms of the workload and studying; however, the main thought that seemed to be occupying his mind was the thought of all the hot babes he'd be surrounded by, many of which he'd be able to take his pick from. But oh boy, he did not expect to end up pining over his overly quiet and frustrating roommate, from Texas of all places.





	1. First day, first impressions.

**Author's Note:**

> In which a loud, clumsy boy is badly introduced to his roommate who may or may not have a set of knives collection by his bedside.

After finishing lending Hunk a hand carrying his boxes and bags upstairs to the room he'd be staying in, Lance was well and truly under the impression that college was going to be the ideal place for him. Hunk shared an apartment with a guy called Zack who, under first impressions, did a fairly good job of giving them the idea of the kind of guy he was within a mere couple of minutes of entering the doorway on the first trip up. He was on a soccer scholarship, whereas Hunk was doing an aeronautical engineering degree; that’s all that really needed to he said to show how different the two of them were. Many trips up and downstairs later, and the final boxes were placed down on the floorboards of Hunk's side of the room, boxes piled with books and equipment he'd need for the year. Any personal items he’d unbox later when he managed to find the time, for now his stuff would have to wait as they attempted to unbox his books and essentials.

During their attempt to unpack, due to the amount of noise the pair were making, Hunk and Lance couldn't help but look to the other side of the room where Zack and his female 'friend' (he upon introductions had insisted they were just friends, _good_ friends, but the make-out in their shared kitchen that Lance spotted about 15 minutes later said otherwise) were gushing over the new kit and gear he was going to use to ‘take the team to nationals’.

_"It can't be that hard, can it. My old team did it twice in a row, I guess you could kinda say that we were legends in our hometown, people would recognise us while we walked around and asked for pictures, we were kind of a big deal, like famous celebrities."_   Something about the way he spoke made Lance 100% sure he was lying, bigging up his profile so that the girl would continue where her hand was advancing up his biceps- to which Hunk and Lance shared a look of utter  _nope_ before quickly vacating the room. Other than the crappy roommate, which he managed to find some pros of having, Lance was already jealous of the situation Hunk had found himself in. His neighbours were 3 rooms of girls. Smoking hot girls, which meant Lance knew he'd be taking the trip to his best friends dreaded apartment frequently just for the chance to catch a glimpse at one of them. So far the number of hot girls he'd seen dwarfed the number of hot guys, which stood at a total of 3. 

“Hunk, I’ve gotta say man,” Lance began on their way downstairs, “I’m jealous of you. Sharing a room with a buff jock who’s going to bring home so many gorgeous girls, having all your neighbours also be many _many_ attractive ladies... Man, staying loyal to Shay, I don’t know how you’re gonna do it. Well I mean I do, because you’re _you_ and you could never give in to the desires of many girls or hurt Shay because you’re a precious bean- but I’m just saying, knowing my luck my rooms gonna be the opposite of yours and I’ll be rooming with some 30 year old white bald man who thinks that putting some salt on chicken means that it’s _seasoned_.” Lance shivered at the thought as they made their way downstairs so that they could begin fetching Lance’s boxes for his own room.

“Don’t be so overdramatic, clearly you’ve read enough nightmare roommate stories on reddit in the car on the way here.” Hunk rolled his eyes as he unlocked the door to his car and pulled out a couple of reasonably sized boxes, “Your roommate will be just fine, and if not, we can both go and live over at Pidge’s apartment.” Lance picked up a box as Hunk locked the car back up, following in Lance’s example as he picked up a box and headed back into the building. “I hear she’s got roomed with a super smart tech nerd just like her- hey! Maybe we could all play D&D together! Maybe we could rope your roommate into it too if he’s up for it-”

“But that’s _our_ thing” Lance whined playfully, “What if they make up some crappy character that starts to mess up all our dungeon plans.” They trekked up to level 3, down the hall to door 26 where Lance attempted to fish the keys out of his jacket pocket, only to find that the pocket he thought he left them in was empty bar a used tissue and half a granola bar. His eyebrows furrowed, growing more concerned when he checked the other pockets, only to find them also empty. He ~~double~~ triple checked them all once more, before turning to Hunk with a sheepish expression as the latter boy pulled a stern yet absolutely _done_ expression that Lance thought could easily rival his mothers.

“Tell me you haven’t-”

“We’ll find them!”

“It’s not even the first day.”

“I definitely had them in the car, so they’re either in there or back in your room-” Neither heard when the door behind Lance opened ajar, the confused face of a late teen male appearing next to them almost silently as Lance continued to fumble for excuses as to where his keys were. “I promise you they aren’t _lost_ , they’re just-“

“Can I... help you?” The guy from the apartment spoke, his voice just above normal level so that he grasped the attention of the tall boy shouting infront of his apartment door. Lance gave a small jump with fright at the sudden close proximity voice (which when later confronted about by Hunk he denied most profusely), turning around to face the source of the noise. After a couple of seconds of awkward silence as Lance now fumbled for any words that would form a coherent sentence as he was now embarrassed about this stranger being brought into the situation, the latter male frowned at him, a mix of confusion and exhaustion. “Look, is there a reason you’re stood shouting outside my door? Because if not please do me a favour and-”

“Wait- you live here?” The teen eyed him suspiciously, standing up straighter as if this conversation was going to become some sort of conflict. In the embarrassment of the moment Lance hadn’t even realised the door that had opened was actually the one he had misplaced his key for, not putting two and two together to realise that this was his roommate.

“Yeah, this is my apartment. What about it?” He watched as the loud males eyebrows shot up and a grin spread across his face.

“Great! Me too! I’m Lance McClain, I guess we’re roommates then huh? Good thing you’re here before me because I’ve actually misplaced my key-” Lance chuckled nervously as he watched the teens face remain looking unimpressed. “- so if you could just keep the door open for the next, 10 minutes? While we bring my stuff up, then I swear I’ll get started on finding-” The guy fished out his key and tossed it in the direction of Hunk.

“Just let yourself in on each trip, easier solution.” He shrugged, “Just don’t let this guy get hold of my copy or else he might lose that one too. Then we’d truly be fucked.” With that, he turned and went back into the apartment to where he himself was unpacking from the boxes he had brought.

“Ouch, guess that wasn’t the best way to be introduced-” Lance started as Hunk hauled his boxes inside, proceeding into the bedroom so that he could figure out where to place them down. Considering the other guy was situated on the left of the room, with a couple of boxes by his side, Hunk took the assumption that Lance was going to live on the right. Hunk put the box down just as Lance managed to stumble into the room with his arms full, watching as he almost tripped on a floorboard as he crossed the room, the latter guy made no attempt to talk or even look up as Lance squealed for Hunk’s assistance. True to his word, between the two of them, they managed to bring up all Lance’s stuff into his room within the 10 minutes. Though by then they had made many trips up and down, and both boys were tired of walking and lifting, more so than when Lance goes to the gym. Hunk lay out flat on Lance’s bed while Lance sat up facing his roommate who had yet to talk to them properly.

“Ok,” Lance started after several minutes of silence, “do you have a name or am I just going to have to call you Edgelord all year?” The unnamed teen quirked an eyebrow at the nickname, before shrugging it off like it was nothing.

“The name’s Keith, Keith Kogane.”


	2. Job hunting and Tesco trips

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is out looking for a job while Lance is extremely hungover.

Despite their first impressions leaving them in an awkward position, with Lance being a pushy, over expressive socialite and Keith being more fond of the reclusive life, Lance decided that -regardless of what Keith had come to think of him so far (he couldn’t tell what the boy thought considering he very rarely looked up from his phone or whatever book he was invested in)- he would do his very best to try and become at the very least _decent_ friends with the boy he'd be sharing a home with for  _the minimum_ _of_  this next year.

But that was easier said than done.

As per annual tradition at most colleges, there were no classes on the first week of the year. Both the day time and night time was spent in some of the many bars on campus that had a variety of games and events on in order to encourage the forming of friendship bonds between the newer crowd of students. Lance was no different to the crowd, he was no stranger to wild parties in bars and clubs, nor was Hunk; however with Hunk being more cautious and motherly towards his friends it meant he usually was the one who drank less and ended up hauling Lance's drunken self back to wherever they were staying for the night. In this case it meant Hunk was half carrying Lance back to his room after far too many drinks at sometime around 4:30am every day for the first week. By then Keith was long gone for sure, he was out not long after 12, out as in sleeping not out as in being out with other people. A couple of alien documentaries and the newest episode of Rick and Morty later and he was out for the count.

By the time morning rolled around on the third day, Keith was up, showered and dressed, with a couple of copies of his CV in hand, and on his way around campus businesses to find somewhere with a vacancy, all before 10am. He woke up briefly at the sound of Hunk opening the door to drop Lance off, but other than that he slept pretty peacefully. He opted on not waking Lance up upon finding the boy knocked flat out on his back on top of his duvet, he did debate waking him but chose not to in case Lance turned out to be  _not_ a fellow morning person. The only thing he did do, which if asked he'd never admit it, was turn him on his side so that if he was sick he didn't choke and die whilst Keith was out. Keith had no idea how to hide a body, and he sure as hell didn’t want to learn how to.

Most of the businesses on campus were open by the time he got down from his walk from the dorm, there weren’t many, but it’d do for now seeing as if it was only temporary. Some small source of income on the side of his studies wouldn’t go amiss, he’d be able to treat himself to the things he wanted (which never cost much seeing as though he was a fairly simple person), and more importantly he’d have enough so that his family wouldn’t worry about him. Shiro had promised to make monthly visits, which meant that while his brother was there Keith would have to keep his room tidy, the kitchen clean, and his roommate out of the equation. The money could pay for his and Shiro’s outings; maybe he could take him to the cinema or something when he became more acquainted with the area and its facilities. He wondered if Shiro would ever bring Allura along with him on a trip, although he prayed to God that Shiro wouldn’t because he knew that Lance wouldn’t be able to stop himself, Keith really didn’t want his brother to stop coming down due to fighting his roommate. Despite whatever outcome was going to happen, Keith was still intent on getting himself a job.

The mainstream stores had no open spaces, due to them being mainstream and so people with a similar idea to him would’ve gone to them first with the idea that they would be familiar to them. Keith didn’t mind not working at Subway or Greggs, he’d much rather work somewhere smaller where he could get to know the others he worked with personally and become friends with them. At mainstream stores people could get in without being interviewed whereas somewhere independent would _definitely_ do interviews and handpick employees, that was a much nicer scenario than the possibility of being paired randomly with some stranger. He ended up giving out 3 CVs, one to a pizzeria, one to a kebab store and one to the campus IT department for a place as a member of IT support. Keith had a variety of skills, his IT and cooking being a couple of them. Having a motorbike as a mode of transport also gave him an advantage. He had no doubt that one of the three would give him a call sometime and arrange for him to come over for an interview, all he had to do was wait.

He got back to the room at around lunch time, just in time for him to be cooking something up for himself. Lance wasn’t up when he got back, and Keith wasn’t surprised. He just about stirred at the sound of the door closing behind Keith, not even cracking half an eye open before mumbling somewhat groggily, “Hunk, babe, do me a favour and get me some water and Tylenol, I feel like I’m _dying_.” Keith rolled his eyes, begrudgingly getting the items Lance had asked for from their shared kitchen before placing them down on the bedside table.

“I’m no Hunk, but uh, here you go.” Lance didn’t respond, to which Keith discovered that the sound of the door had only slightly disturbed him from slumber, but not enough to have woken him fully, as Lance had fallen back to sleep. Keith sighed, pulling out a pen from on his desk and scribbling down his digits onto a post-it alongside a note that he’d be going for a food shop and to message if he needed anything in particular. He took a long look at the sleeping boy before he left, shaking his head at how incredibly hung over he was from the night before, Keith wasn’t sure Lance had yet recovered from the first nights hangover from how bad he looked and sounded. Regardless of Lance’s state, Keith left him to it and set off on his motorcycle with the list for the shop on his mind throughout his travel.

The store was quiet when he arrived, or at least it was quiet for a midweek day. A few people dotted about here and there with shopping carts full of food, but he only needed a basket as it was only a trip for essentials. Some fresh vegetables and herbs, a couple of pasta packets (As much as Keith tried to make homemade food healthy, there was no way Keith could make the pasta himself. A pasta machine would cost _way_ too much for him on his student budget and it took too much time for it to be worth it) and maybe some baking ingredients in case he needed – _kneaded_ \- dough for pizzas or something else of that nature. He was just about finished picking up some food to last him the rest of the week when his phone buzzed in his pocket, he pulled it out thinking that it was Shiro checking up on him, only to find that it was an unknown number. Lance was awake enough to text him, asking for a favour.

**_could you pick up some doritos and lucozade sport for me please, keithy boy??_ **

**_and if you wanted my number you could’ve just asked me, no need to try and act smooth ;))_ **

**Say something like that again and I’ll bring you back nothing.**

**_woah woah i was joking :((_ **

Keith rolled his eyes and hesitantly went to retrieve the items Lance had asked for. It wasn’t much of a favour for him to do this for Lance, but it was Keith’s way of making small notions towards friendship that he hoped wouldn’t go unnoticed by the latter boy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drop a comment if you find any mistakes :)


	3. Kitchen talks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith buys Lance some snacks and outs Lance as a frat boy.

Lance would like to call himself a morning person. On a normal weekday he's up and out the house for 8am, and before that he'd be the one helping his mother wake up his siblings who weren't as overly keen about waking up in the morning as he was. He'd be the first to his classes, first to clock in at his job, Lance was always first. So eventually, he needed a break. Right? This week he decided would be his break from the rigorous routine of early morning wake ups. So after his first night out on the bars with his main man Hunk, he wasn't surprised when he woke up with a killer headache and no idea how he got back to his room. This was the usual routine, Hunk would have been the one who brought him back and placed him in bed, while Keith was probably asleep after not going out at all. Seriously, what killjoy won't even enjoy a free week to party?

Lance attempts to get up out of bed, giving up and falling flat on his back when his head feels so heavy that he was worried his neck would snap. After a couple of minutes of wriggling he manages to prop himself up against the headboard and wall behind his bed, his eyes adjusting to the dimly lit room slowly. Either Keith wasn't up yet, or he'd left the curtains pulled shut. He whimpered when he pressed the home button on his phone to check the time, the brightness proving too much for him as he slid the brightness bar down all the way to the dimmest option.

_12:45pm_

Not a bad time for him to wake up on a lazy Lance day, his mother wasn't happy when he woke up at 3pm a couple of years back, he has since learnt to wake up earlier instead of facing his mothers angry cold water wrath. He stretched out his limbs, his muscles aching and bones cracking as if he were an old man. Squinting in the darkness, he could see that the bed across from him was empty, the sheets neatly folded with no-one inside them. Okay, he breathed, Keith is awake, but where was the boy? He definitely wouldn't be out at an event (despite them being on at this time of day, Lance knew Keith was not sociable enough to be out somewhere making friends) and classes hadn't yet started so he couldn't be studying unless he's one of those try-hards who search the curriculums beforehand to get a head start on the course. He groaned at the thought, of course he'd be the one stuck with a studious try-hard while Hunk got a babe magnet.

The reflection of light from his screen phone shines on something at his bedside and catches his attention, much like a magpie spotting something shiny. It takes a moment for his eyes to focus, eventually making out the shape of a glass and a small box. Could it be that Hunk has been over already? It's strange he didn't wake up at the noise because he almost always does- and then he spots it. A small note on a post it, next to a packet of Tylenol and a glass of water. It definitely looked like Hunk had been over to visit him, but the note read loud and clear that it hadn't been Hunk who'd sorted him out with his hangover treatment, it had in fact been his reclusive roommate Keith who'd left these here and pulled a disappearing act on him.

_Hey Lance, you look like you're in a pretty bad state from wherever you went last night so I just left you to it. Out shopping for food at the moment, will be back in about an hour? If you wake up and need anything give me a text XXX-XXX-XXXX_

Lance smiled to himself, he's been gifted with not only painkillers but a phone number. The phone number of the cute guy who happened to be his new roommate. Cute: Yeah, that's what Lance thought of Keith. Lance was not blind, he knew an attractive male when he saw one, just like how he knew when he saw an attractive female. To him, attraction to both genders was the same. Keith was attractive whether he knew it or not, and who was Lance to deny himself eye candy when it's presented to him? It doesn't mean he'll act on it physically, hell purely admire him from a distance and maybe flirt a little from time to time over text. And Keith wasn't hard to admire; His haircut, while old styled, suited him nicely as it gave him the small amount of fringe needed for him to hide his eyes, matching his quiet personality quite well. Regardless of Lance's sexuality, he knew he definitely was going to need to at bare minimum befriend this boy.

Lance smiled as he texted Keith, being honest and cheeky, just like him.

**_could you pick up some doritos and lucozade sport for me please, keithy boy??_ **

_**and if you wanted my number you could've just asked me, no need to try and act smooth ;))** _

**Say something like that again and I'll bring you back nothing.**

_**woah woah i was joking :((** _

Okay, so maybe Lance gave off the wrong impression over text. Keith clearly missed the joking yet mildly flirtatious tone Lance was using, leaving Lance to only hope that Keith would bring back his requested items to their room. It was unclear to Lance whether Keith understood that he was flirting with him, not to much and merely to test the waters, till he received a reply from the latter boy roughly a minute later.

**I didn't see that much of a reason to give you my number before, now I guess it could come in handy when I'm out and you need contact. I'm not asking to be your new drinking buddy.**

Yep, Keith had completely missed the point, or was he pretending he didn't understand to save Lance from embarrassment when he discovered Keith was really straight? Who knows. Lance let the back of his head hit against the wall, this was going to be a long process.

When Keith arrived back half an hour later Hunk was over in their apartment chilling on the sofa with a sleepy Lance, who had taken his duvet from his bed and wrapped it around himself like it was a blanket as he bundled himself on their sofa. Keith noted how the bedhead and small bags made Lance look quite worse for wear compared to how he looked during the daytime normally (Keith had only seen Lance during the daytime on that first day they both arrived, but he assumed that was how Lance looked normally and he wasn't a hungover mess everyday). He placed the bag with Lance's items in on the coffee table in front of the sofa where he resided, chucking a small smile of acknowledgement in Hunks direction before heading into the kitchen to sort out the food he'd brought back. Keith was preoccupied with unpacking, not seeming to hear when Lance entered the kitchen with his wallet in one hand and the other steadying the duvet around him so that it didn't fall.

"So how much do I owe you?"

Keith jolted and spun round in surprise, clutching his heart at the sudden noise. "It was only about $4, consider it my treat." He watched as Lance looked at him suspiciously for a moment, keeping his wallet in hand as he spoke.

"Are you sure? I don't wanna be the reason you go broke-"

"Lance don't worry about it," Keith waved his hand as if to brush off the worry, "if anyone here is going to go broke it's you from all that partying."

"Hey!" Lance whined jokingly, before laughing as he knew it was true, "I should be fine though, I don't plan on going out any more this week. I'm not sure my body can handle the suffering I'm putting it through." There was a moment of silence before Lance continued, this was the most Keith had spoken to him so far, and he didn't want it to end. "So... are you not going to go out at all? No parties you want to attend?"

Keith shook his head, his fringe bobbing from side to side as he moved. "I've never been much of a party animal to be honest-"

"Well then, that's gonna have to change. Because you're living with Lance McClain, Americas biggest part animal."

"I mean you do give off that frat boy kind of vibe." Keith rolled his eyes and chuckled, leaving a gaping Lance in the kitchen and joining Hunk in the living room, albeit on another chair so space as between them. The two smiled at each other and Hunk did Keith the favour of creating small talk whilst Lance struggled to compose himself. Keith definitely did not speak as harsh as he texted.

" _Frat boy vibe?!?_ "

 


	4. Beer bottles and Shiro's hot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith's hot brother rings to see how he is and Lance flirts with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know these seem fast paced but I'm not very good at pacing chapters.

True to his word, Lance didn't go out for the rest of the week. Instead he chose to invite Hunk over every night to partake in a variety of late night activities like movie nights and game nights. Keith was invited to each one, but he only attended one on the Friday to watch Lance and Hunk play on their shared Nintendo switch. The same occurred on the Saturday, but this time Keith couldn't attend most of it as Shiro had rang him on Skype to see how his first week at college had been (Which seemed pretty pointless to Keith as Shiro knew full well there hadn't been any classes yet this term).

"And hoooows my baby brother?" Shiro cooed as if Keith was an infant, laughing at the displeased look on Keith's face as Shiro addressed him in a childlike manner.

"I am 20 Shiro, not 5."

"You'll always be younger than me though lil bro, that makes you a baby." Keith rolled his eyes as Shiro winked cheerily, "anyways how's it going? Have you settled in well?"

"It's been okay," Keith looked around the dark empty bedroom, the sound of Lance and his friends (they'd invited another extra friend over that night who Keith had yet to be introduced to, but if they were anything like Hunk, Keith knew he'd be fine never leaving his room again other than for classes, 3 friends was enough for him) laughing from the living room was quietly yet ever so slowly seeping through the walls to where Keith was sat. The friendly sound of them being happy only seeming to remind him that he'd never really had any friends. "It's nice here. The people are friendly-" Shiro cut him off with an unimpressed expression that showed he saw right through Keith's lying.

"Have you actually met anyone or have you just holed yourself in your room all week?" Keith gave him a flat look, before rolling his eyes like the moody teenager he used to be. His brother knew him too well, sometimes this meant it worked to Keith's disadvantage.

"I have a roommate, and he has friends. See? I've met two people already. We had a game night the other day and I watched them play the new Zelda-"

"Good, that's good. You'll come out of your shell in no time." Shiro clasped his hands together and smiled brightly at him, Keith heard a door close from Shiro's side of the feed and watched as a figure behind him began to place their bags down on the kitchen table where Shiro's phone was propped up.

"Welcome home sweetie, your day been good?" A muffled response was heard before the person slung themselves into the chair next to Shiro, hair tied in a tight bun and their eyes struggling to stay open as they looked to Keith with a small tired smile.

"Hey Allura." Keith waved, receiving a small nod back before her eyes drifted shut. Shiro dropped his phone from his hold to catch her from falling off the chair.

"I'm going to put her to bed, I'll be back in a moment." Keith decided that in the time it took Shiro to carry Allura safety to their bed, he had enough time to fetch himself a drink from the kitchen. Taking his phone with him, he manoeuvred his way through the living room and managed to not disturb the tense game taking place in what was now a battlefield instead of their livingroom. He went over to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of beer for himself, cracking open the lid with an opener he found in the cupboard (he assumed it was Lance's but thought that the latter boy wouldn't mind). In that moment, two things happened which made Keth jump out of his skin. One, Shiro returned and immediately began saying something Keith didn't catch as he was caught off guard. Two, Lance came running into the kitchen at the sound of a bottle opening in his absence.

"Is that the sound of _alcohol_ I hear?" Lance waved his arms overdramatically, "alcohol? Being consumed in _my_ good alcohol free apartment?!"

"What're you going to do about it, _Lance_?" Keith smirked a little, sloshing the open bottle in a circular motion as if to tease him.

" _Keith please don't fight your roommate_ -"

"What am _I_ going to do?" He winked incredulously, the pair had both ignored Shiro's protest over the phone as if they'd never heard him, "I'm going to join my best buddy of course." He copied Keith in opening a bottle and sitting down next to him at the table. The cold seat of the chair lulling him into a more chilled state from the tension he'd been feeling from playing games against his friends (which he lost most of). For the first time since entering, his eyes focused on the phone clutched tightly in Keith's fingers, he squinted curiously and leant over to look at the screen.

" _No, Lance don't_ -"

"Woah, who is _that_?" He gawked at the screen that Shiro was on, attempting to keep himself from drooling as the person waved sheepishly at his reaction. "He's _hot_ , is that your boyfriend? You're a lucky man, Keith." Shiro laughed loudly with a small blush spreading across his freckled nose as he watched Keith squirm.

"That's my _brother_ you idiot" Keith snapped, pulling his phone away from Lance's view. "So you wouldn't mind if he became my boyfriend then?" Lance teased, watching in amusement as Keith glared at him, Shiro's laugh now so loud it could be heard from where Lance was sat. He smiled triumphantly at his brother, clearly being flirted with but, as usual, he was oblivious to it.

"He's not available to date, so you'll have to find someone else." Keith shut off his phone, abruptly ending the call much too soon for Shiro's liking, and went to join the party in the living room. Lance followed behind him, happily rejoining his friends party as though he'd never left. The 'party' consisted of Lance's friend Hunk and another person Keith at first didn't recognise until they spoke his name in their all too familiar voice.

"Katie?" "Ew, it's a Kogane." Keith ruffled her short hair with his hand before pulling her into a hug (which she voiced protests against but he knew she secretly loved as she patted his back lightly). "I thought I escaped you when I came here."

"Well, you were wrong." Keith laughed as they pulled away, Katie going back to sitting down on the couch while Keith sat on one of the side chairs. "You can never get rid of a Kogane, once we're here, we're here for good."

"Wait wait wait wait," Lance held up a hand expectantly, as if he was the only one not understanding the situation unfolding in front of him, "you know Pidge? How do you know Pidge?"

Keith looked at him with a funny expression that Lance thought was adorable, "what the hell is a Pidge?"

"Pidge? Pidgeon? The one you just called Katie and hugged like there's no tomorrow?" Keith smirked at the small tinge of jealousy he picked up in Lance's tone. He'll flirt with my brother but get's jealous of me having mutual friends? That's double standards if ever there was any. Keith thought to himself as Lance continued to pout.

"Katie here's an old family friend," he shrugged as if it was nothing, not catching the unconvinced face Lance pulled. "Her brother and my brother are like, best friends. We just saw each other quite often is all. When you see someone so often it's unavoidable that we'd become at least decent friends. How'd you know Katie?"

"We met at a D&D tournament a while back, she put up with us for a few hours and didn't end up wanting to kill me so we stayed in contact." Lance shrugged as Keith let out a laugh, of course these people make friends depending on whether they can put up with Lance.

"Oh God, of course you guys play D&D."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lance narrowed his eyes as Keith rolled his right back at him. "Just as I quit playing online I find 3 people who play."

"Join us if you want-"

"I gave up to try and focus on my studies though, joining would seem pointless now."

"... You wouldn't have to be the DM if that takes up too much of your time, you could just turn up to the days we have our sessions." Keith gave him an unconvinced look, but shrugged as though he'd think about it.

"Sure, if I'm free I'll join."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pls comment any mistakes you find :)


	5. Job interviews and icecream tubs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith gets a job, Lance is beginning to catch feelings and Hunk doesn't believe his friend one bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two updates in one day because I'm mega bored

Keith had received a call early on Sunday morning informing him that the family owned Pizzeria had looked over his application and wanted him in for an interview later that day. That's how his day went from being chilled with him sprawled out on the sofa eating left over takeout from last night while some old rerun of f.r.i.e.n.d.s played on the TV, to him rushing around finding clean clothes to wear to the interview that'd being sprung on him last minute. Somewhere in the midst of him panicking, he'd woken Lance up from his beauty rest which led to the sleepy boy assisting him getting ready (the sooner Keith was ready and gone, the sooner Lance could go back to sleeping the day away). Lance was half asleep for most of the time he was helping, that was until it came to Keith brushing his hair, which when tamed made Lance's heart begin to beat uncontrollably in his chest. Keith had a forehead (it'd sound stupid to anyone else, but seeing his forehead for the first time sent Lance's heart into overdrive. Seeing it meant that Keith's long fringe had been pushed out of his face and Lance had full view of his colourless grey eyes that he knew he could feel himself getting lost in them the longer he looked) that looked smooth and flawless, something Lance knew Keith wasn't trying to achieve. Lance worked hard to have his skin like this, yet Keith's seemed to be like this naturally. It wasn't fair. To early morning Lance, Keith looked like he'd been dropped on earth as a present to him sent from the Gods. Therefore, as soon as Keith didn't need his help anymore Lance ran away as fast as he could over to Hunk's apartment and camped out on their couch, venting to his best friend about how unfair life was.

Keith, meanwhile, drove his motorbike halfway across town to the small Pizza store, nervously parking out front as he made his way inside the cosily decorated building. As it was midday on a Sunday, not many customers were about. A couple of students sat at a table in the far back, but other than that the place was empty. There was a lady behind the counter, a lady much older than him, possibly in her early 60's, with short fading blonde ringlets and soft blue eyes, she smiled and waved him over as if she could tell who he was without the need for introductions. "Keith?" Her voice was croaky, as many older persons are, but not gravelly. He nodded and stuck out a hand across the counter for her to shake, "Follow me through to the back- Shay, take up counter orders for me for a while would you?" A girl not much older than him strolled out from the back, smiling with a small wave at him before taking over counter duty. The older lady led him into an office like room and closed the door behind them, each of them sitting on either side of the desk in the centre of the room. "So Keith, I can call you Keith right instead of Mr. Kogane? That's much too formal for this establishment."

"Just Keith is fine." "Good. So, Keith, you're studying physics and astrophysics?"

"Yes ma'am." "And where are you from? If you don't mind me asking."

"Born and raised in Texas till I was 8, that's when I became an orphan and entered the foster system, after that I moved around quite a bit till I settled with one family in South Carolina. I lived with them till this year when I've come out here for studying." She looked mildly shocked by how honest he was, but continued the interview as if he'd never said anything. If it hadn't phased him to tell her and he seemed fine to talk openly about it then it wouldn't affect his job performance, and therefore it was none of her business to pry for information. If he wanted to tell her, he would on his own terms.

"I thought your accent sounded strange, so it's originally Texan that's been influenced by a bit of Carolina?"

"Yes ma'am."

"That's real nice. My daughter moved to North Carolina for work and that's where she met her husband, they married and have lived there since. I've not seen her in a while though, I only hear from her through her daughter -my granddaughter- Shay, the one who's working out front. She's not much older than you, you know." She teased, as though she was attempting to set the pair up in a match making scheme. "Fair warning that if you hurt her you will be killed, not just by me though, I'm sure she could handle it herself-"

"No offence," Keith smiled politely at her as she began her speech on how wonderful her grandchild was, "but I'm not interested. Don't get me wrong, she's really pretty and all, but uh, I'm kind of- gay?" She smiled at him warmly, his words not bothering her at all which was great as he was really worried that she was someone from her generation who held the general widespread belief that being homosexual was _wrong_.

"Not to worry dear, we don't judge here. You love who you love, no-one can control who they love. We're all God's children and he loves us all equally, regardless of who we decide to marry. Now tell me dear, have you ever baked a pizza?" That was one of the main things about older people that Keith loved, they could change and drop conversations so quickly and manage to make it so that it never (not even for a moment) seemed awkward.

"Not from scratch, which I assume you do here." "Of course, we pride ourselves on the high standard of our pizza making skills. Not to worry, with a week of training you'll know the basics, and in time you'll find your own rhythm of how you make them best. The bike out front is yours, yes?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Good, because as of now we only have one person able to drive, meaning they're the designated delivery boy. Maybe now the two of you can share the load- it get's really busy towards Thursday, Friday and Saturday are our peak days of the week. I presume you can at least cook a little? Even if it's not Michelin star quality."

"Yes ma'am, I used to cook for my parents back in South Carolina 4 days a week."

"I think with a little time you'll do just fine here."

"Wait- does that mean I've got the job?"

"Of course, a gem like you will fit in quite well with our present staff on hand. You've left us your contact details on your resume so I'll be in contact within the next couple of hours to let you know your schedule for the week, it may change from time to time but generally it will stay the same hours and days on a weekly basis."

"T-thank you, I wasn't expecting to be accepted so fast-"

"Nonsense, the point of interviews is so you can see first hand how someone is and it's usually pretty quick when you can tell if this is the right place for someone. We need more like you on hand, Shay's the only one here below 30. You youngsters is what will keep this place alive. Tell your friends, close friends get discounts- not as much as staff discounts but still a bargain is a bargain- and so do family members. Feel free to bring a date here too," she waggled en eyebrow at him, "Your date can eat for free, so you may get a free pizza."

"I'll keep that in mind." Keith blushed lightly as she chuckled, and the two continued to discuss work matters till she deemed the interview was over and he could go home. The first thing he did when he got outside was, in his moment of happiness, ring Shiro, who was over the moon to hear Keith's news and gushed for a solid half hour about how proud he was of his younger brother growing up to be an 'independent young lady' before hanging up so that he could ring their mother and pass on Keith's news. By now it was almost 4pm, and the large amount of social interactions had tired him out for the day. Keith went back to an empty apartment to sleep.

*

Bonus of when Lance ran away to Hunk's: "You should've seen him Hunk, it's not fair." Lance whined from on the sofa. Hunk, now sat across from him after being awoken when Lance broke into his room midday, rolled his eyes as Lance attempted to complain about his roommate but just ended up complimenting him bitterly over a tub of now nearly finished icecream. "His hair was brushed and he tied it up into a lil pony tail and I almost  _died-_ "

"Lance, this is starting to sound really gay. Even for you."

"It's not my fault he's attractive! I didn't think he would be, I thought from how quiet he was that he'd be awkward and difficult to befriend but it's so easy to talk to him! I learn new things all the time and it's only the first week-"

"Now it sounds  _super_ gay, like, you're almost at a pining level of feelings for him."

"Hunk I'm definitely not pining." Lance rolled his eyes at his friend, "I just know how to appreciate something that's aesthetically pleasing- like Keith."

"Sure dude, that doesn't sound gay at _all_. I give it a month before the great Lance McClain is living the domestic life"

"Huuuunk." Lance whined, placing the now empty carton onto the coffee table between them, the blanket falling from around his shoulders as he slithered away from the allegations. "Don't do this to me man, don't jinx me. Don't turn into a second Pidge."

"I'm just saying, you seem like you've got it pretty hard for him already. But if you say you haven't, then I believe you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment any mistakes you find :)  
> Or comment anything at all lol

**Author's Note:**

> Comment any mistakes you find :)


End file.
